


Deja Vu

by dogloser



Category: Naruto
Genre: Alternate Universe - Time Travel, Angst, Character Death Fix, Comfort/Angst, Fluff, Fluff and Angst, Gen, Happy Ending, Hatake Kakashi Has Issues, Hatake Kakashi-centric, Implied/Referenced Character Death, Kakashi/Tenzo if you squint, Kannabi Bridge Mission, Kid Hatake Kakashi, Original Character(s), POV Hatake Kakashi, Post-Kannabi Bridge Mission, Post-Third Shinobi War, Surprise Ending, Team Minato - Freeform, Team Minato-centric, Third Shinobi War, Time Travel, Time Travel Fix-It, Uchiha Obito Lives, but still, just kidding, just wait and see, kurenai/asuma - Freeform, obito/rin - Freeform, this isn't a romance fic
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-01-22
Updated: 2020-09-14
Packaged: 2021-02-27 13:33:35
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 4
Words: 4,528
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/22357984
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/dogloser/pseuds/dogloser
Summary: Kakashi always listens to his instincts. And, as Obito is about to walk away from him to save Rin on his own, instinct screams at him to follow - to abandon the mission for sake of his comrades. Kakashi chooses to listen, but his instincts have never been accompanied by such odd feelings of deja vu before.Or: Kakashi gets his happy ending, what should have, could have happened so many years ago.
Comments: 110
Kudos: 539





	1. Chapter 1

### Ripples in Time

“You’re right…”

Kakashi felt like a rubber band that had been tightly stretched and suddenly let go. Consciousness snapped back into his body like the crack of thunder, dizzying him momentarily. His vision spotted with black, but the world came back quickly. A warm, end-of-summer breeze tugged at his clothing. Grass danced beneath his feet. The treetops swayed gently with the wind. Everything seemed to be at peace, but instinct told him that such peace was a facade. No birds sang; no creatures scuttered up trees. Tension thrummed beneath the surface, building and climbing to its peak. Something was brewing, and Kakashi thought he should know what, but he couldn’t place his finger on it.

“In the Ninja World, those who break the rules and laws are regarded as scum, but…”

The Hatake found himself staring at Obito. Why did he feel as if he had lived through this before? Clearly he hadn’t, as he was standing here, a new Jonin on his first mission to destroy Kannabi Bridge. But why could he hear his own voice, sounding much older, echoing back in his head words he had never spoken before? _Those who break the rules are scum. That’s… true. But⎼_

Obito turned away from him, but his voice carried in the near-silent forest. “Those who would abandon even one of their friends are worse than scum. I’m scum anyway, so I’m gonna choose to break the rules. If doing that somehow makes me less than a true shinobi, then I’ll just go and crush all of the so-called ‘real’ shinobi.”

Without another word, Obito began to walk away from him. Kakashi could feel what he could only describe as a shadow of himself turning the opposite way, but it felt so distant, as if it had been nothing but a bad dream. Why would he ever walk away?

“Obito.”

The boy didn’t stop walking. Kakashi caught up to him instead, placing his hand on his teammate’s shoulder. “ _Obito_.”

The Uchiha turned his head over his shoulder, fierce black eyes boring into both of Kakashi’s own. It was almost odd to see those eyes without the Sharingan, but Obito had yet to even unlock that power. “Kakashi, I don’t have _time_ to argue⎼”

“I’m coming with you.”

Obito stared at him incredulously for a moment before his face lit up in the biggest grin Kakashi had ever seen. “I knew it!” He exclaimed, pumping his fist in the air. “I knew you couldn’t be so cold-hearted. Come on! We have to save Rin!”

“Right.” Kakashi gave a sharp nod. Both the shinobi leapt into the trees, speeding off after their captured teammate. Something in Kakashi’s belly felt warm. They were rushing into danger, he knew, but it felt _right_ this time.

This time?

###### へのへのもへじ

Hiding in the treetops above the cave, Kakashi knew something wasn’t right. His instinct was very insistent in telling him that something was wrong, but, like earlier, he couldn’t place his finger just on what it was.

That was until the invisible Iwagakure shinobi attacked Obito.

Kakashi moved without thinking, pushing Obito out of the way. A kunai raked down his eye, but, as if he knew it was coming, he leaned back just far enough. His eye was saved, although it would leave a nasty scar.

The scare unlocked something in Obito, though, and when the Uchiha rose from the tree branch, it was with red eyes.

Together, they killed the Iwa nin and hurried to Rin’s rescue. Thankfully, she was unharmed, as Kakashi had expected her to be. He had a fierce, burning desire to protect her. Never, never would he let anything harm her again.

Again?

Before he could wonder at these feelings of deja vu, the cavern began to shake violently. “Run! Go!” Kakashi shoved Obito and Rin forward, lingering behind them to watch their backs, just in case. He dodged falling rocks left and right, avoiding one by a hair. It caught in his peripheral vision seconds before impact, and he ducked to the side just in time for it to bounce off his shoulder rather than his skull.

The team burst out from the cave just before it collapsed entirely behind them. They were met by a dozen more Iwagakure shinobi, and each student of Namikaze Minato drew their weapons.

They would not fall.

They did not fall. 

As the sun sank behind the horizon, Minato himself stood with them, watching the ruins of Kannabi Bridge crumble and sink into the water. A dozen dead Iwagakure shinobi lay scattered between the cave and the bridge.

Minato set a hand on Kakashi and Obito’s shoulders. “Good job, boys.” He smiled proudly. “I’m glad to see you’ve settled your differences. I think you’re a real team now.”

Kakashi and Obito hesitantly exchanged glances, and Rin laughed, gripping the both of them in a crushing hug. “Minato-sensei’s right! I’m so proud of you two!”

“H-Hey! It really wasn’t that much,” Obito blubbered. His cheeks were heated in a bright red flush. “Kakashi came up with the plan.”

Kakashi was quick not to take all the credit. “I couldn’t have done it without you,” he said, with a warmth to his voice that surprised him and the rest of his team. “And, you unlocked your Sharingan.”

“I can’t wait to hear all about it.” Minato chuckled, ruffling all their hair in turns. “Let’s get you three home.”

“Hai, Sensei!”

That feeling of deja vu lingered still, yet it felt displaced, quieter. As Kakashi walked with his team back home, he felt the shadows of tragedy reaching out to him, as if trying to tell him what could have, would have, should have been. What had been.

The more distance between him and Kannabi Bridge, the quieter the deja vu became. Instead, it was replaced by the hearty sounds of Obito’s laughter and the looks of Rin’s soft smile.

The ripples in time began to fade. Soon, Kakashi would feel them no more.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> more chapters coming soon (: lemme know what you think!  
> tumblr: doggoneloser


	2. Chapter 2

### An Odd Occurrence and an Odd Number

Returning to the Village Hidden in the Leaves with Obito, Rin, and Minato-sensei by his side felt strange, although Kakashi couldn’t place why. He felt as if he were walking beside ghosts, but his team was as real as they had been before they were sent to Kannabi Bridge. Maybe the injury he’d received was messing with him more than he had thought. Rin and Minato both had looked at it and deemed he was in no danger of losing his eye, and yet he felt strange, as if his eye was out of place.

At home, they were all hailed as heroes. The destruction of Kannabi Bridge practically ensured their victory in this war, and every shinobi and citizen alike was long ready for the devastation and death to be over with. Minato promised to treat all of them to barbeque tomorrow night, but for now, they were to go home and get some well-deserved rest. None of them argued ⎼ except for Kakashi, when Minato asked him to go to the hospital. He lied and promised he would go tomorrow, and that was that.

Kakashi tiredly trudged to his apartment building. The mission had been long and exhausting. Any of them could have died, but this mission the dread had been so much more real. Maybe it was because it was his first mission as a Jonin.

At his door, he pulled out the key to his apartment and tried to slide it in the lock. It didn’t fit. _Damn old thing_ , he thought, turning it the other way and trying again. Still, no luck. Once more Kakashi flipped it over before he blinked.

This wasn’t even his apartment complex.

What had compelled him to come here? Perplexed, Kakashi retreated, taking the route to his true apartment. No wonder the key hadn’t fit. But it did feel like as if he lived there, which was strange, because besides the Hatake compound, he hadn’t lived in any other apartment.

He must be overtired. They had a long mission, and he’d been wounded more seriously than he ever had before. He just needed to rest, and then he would be fine.

Finally arriving at his actual apartment, Kakashi unlocked it, deactivated the warding, and stepped past where he had his traps hidden. Safely inside, he headed to the bathroom to take a hot shower.

After he stripped, he took a closer look at his eye in the mirror while the water was heating up. Kakashi touched the wound gently. Rin’s medical talents had closed the injury fairly well, but he was sure to have a long scar, from his cheekbone to his forehead. Oddly enough, he didn’t mind. The scar felt right, familiar. Perhaps it felt deserved. At the very least, his eye was saved. Being half-blind on the battlefield would be a huge handicap, especially during wartime. He couldn’t afford something so disabling if he valued his life.

With a sigh, he stepped into the shower to cleanse himself of all the dirt, grime, and blood from the mission. It clung to him through his clothes like a stubborn leech, and washing it away was allowing him to unravel from the journey. The tension began to ease from his shoulders. Tiredness took its place. He felt as if he could sleep for a week.

Clean at last, Kakashi stepped out and dried himself. A quick glance out the closest window let him see that the sun was starting to set, so at the very least he could expect to be alone. Maito Gai had an awfully bad habit of breaking into his personal space, but even Gai seemed to understand that regular ninja slept at decent hours.

Before climbing into bed, Kakashi signed a few quick seals and bit his thumb, summoning his ninken. They all appeared in a puff of smoke, and all seemed ready for battle. When they realized they were only in his bedroom, though, they looked confused.

“Pup?” Pakkun gruffed, jumping onto the bed to look closer at Kakashi. “Why’d you summon us?”

Kakashi was just as baffled. “Why are you calling me Pup?” He questioned. “I just thought you’d want to lay around.”

All the ninken seemed perplexed, sharing equally confused glances, but none argued. They wouldn’t mind the time off. Kakashi climbed into bed, wondering why his ninken were acting as if he didn’t summon them to be lazy on a regular basis. Meanwhile, said ninken got comfortable: some laying on the bed, pressed against his legs, and a few on the floor. Pakkun, of course, curled up on Kakashi’s stomach.

Something still didn’t seem right. Kakashi quickly counted them all and realized there were only seven. “Pakkun,” he started, “where’s Urushi?”

Pakkun lifted his head. “Did you hit your head, Pup?” He asked, a hint of worry to his tone. “Have you gone to the hospital since you’ve been back?”

“I didn’t hit my head, Pakkun,” Kakashi answered. “There are supposed to be eight of you.”

Guruko lifted his head from Kakashi’s thigh. “No, there’re only seven of us.”

“Huh.” Kakashi scratched at his head. Maybe he did hit it without realizing. Or maybe he was more tired than he had anticipated. “I must be losing it. I went to the wrong apartment building, and now I’m thinking I have eight ninken.”

“An eighth wouldn’t be a bad addition,” Uhei offered. “It would make our pack an even number.”

Bisuke snickered. “It would just mean buying more treats.”

“Or you’ve been thinking about adding an eight and just forgot you haven’t done it yet,” Shiba added.

“Maa… I suppose you’re right.” Kakashi settled back down, thinking about Urushi. He had such a clear image in his head of what the ninja hound was supposed to look like, but he had clearly never even met the dog before. Maybe he had dreamt it.

Pakkun curled back up, his voice rumbling lowly. “Go to sleep, Pup. You had a big mission.”

“Mm.” Kakashi hummed his response, closing his eyes. His pack didn’t feel complete without that eighth member. First thing in the morning, then, he would sign another contract with a ninken. The pleasant thought followed him into sleep.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> we love ninken :) kakashi's still confused but like... it's ok


	3. Chapter 3

### Time Marches Ever Onward

The following days were as any other. The war continued raging on, and “Team Kakashi” was sent out on more missions. None were nearly as dangerous as the Kannabi Bridge mission, though, and so they handled it with ease. Once, Rin had nearly been captured, again, but Kakashi’s quick-thinking and Obito’s resolve saved her before she could be dragged away. They returned to the village a little shaken, but alive.

All three of them watched as the war came to an end. Kakashi had never felt so lighthearted. Finally, the age of death and destruction was over, and they could focus on rebuilding. They would make a true life for themselves other than being tools for the Hidden Leaf.

Obito cheered the loudest when Minato was made Hokage. Of course, Obito being Obito, he immediately marched up to their sensei and promised that he would be the next face on the mountain. Minato merely laughed, ruffling his dark hair and saying he couldn’t wait to see it.

With the war finished, Obito took the Jonin Exam. He failed the first time, but Rin, Kakashi, and Minato were all there to support him and help him prepare for the next one. Amazingly, the Uchiha swallowed his pride and asked Kakashi specifically for help on how to pass it. The two ninja began to train together daily, and Obito’s skill increased in leaps and bounds every week. His and Kakashi’s relations improved as well, and by the time Obito took the Jonin Exam again and passed, they were fast friends.

Rin seemed to have finally gotten over her crush on Kakashi, too, which Kakashi was thankful for. Although he liked Rin, she was a sister to him, just as much as Obito was a brother and Minato was a father. No longer diverted by romantic feelings, she dedicated her time wholeheartedly to improving her medical skills. She was quickly becoming the best medic-nin in the Hidden Leaf, and her team couldn’t be prouder.

Kakashi, meanwhile, dedicated his time to improving his skills as a shinobi, and he became one feared and respected throughout all the lands. When Minato offered him a spot in the ANBU, he was quick to accept. The missions he faced in ANBU, and as Hound, were taxing on his body and mind, but outside of ANBU he had Obito and Rin to help him through it ⎼ and Gai, Asuma, and Kurnai. In ANBU, he had a new addition to Team Ro, a young man by the name of Tenzo. Uchiha Itachi soon joined with them, too. Soon enough, Kakashi earned his spot in many black books and the nickname “Lightning Cutter Kakashi” for his work with the Chidori and Raikiri.

He still felt small inklings of deja vu, at times, like when Naruto was born. That night he had been startled out of his sleep by a nightmare of the Kyuubi attacking the village, but when he went outside to check, the night was as quiet as any other.

His nickname, too, was one that felt somewhat strange when he first heard it. The tone of it was almost too gentle, although even he didn’t know what that meant. If he was going to have a nickname, he thought it was going to be something fierce, and dark, and heavy ⎼ not that “Lightning Cutter” didn’t still strike fear into the hearts of his enemies. Kakashi soon grew used to the nickname, though, and all odd thoughts regarding it slipped into oblivion.

Very soon after the Third Great Shinobi War ended, Kakashi adopted Urushi, too. The hound fit in well with the pack, and Kakashi finally toyed with the sense of contentment. 

Kakashi was still in ANBU when Gai, Obito, Asuma, Kurenai, and Rin became Jonin-sensei. Minato-sensei had asked him if he wanted to retire from the corps, but he politely declined. Team Ro still needed him, and his mental health was fairing well, with the occasional slips. One of his friends always managed to dredge him out of the hole he sometimes found himself in, and he couldn’t be more thankful for them.

Obito became Obito-sensei to young Naruto, Sasuke, and Sakura. Kakashi wasn’t envious, although he did feel a sense of a protectiveness over the young group. They reminded him quite a lot of his team, so long ago now. 

When Team Obito would disperse for the night, sometimes Kakashi would appear out of the trees to stand beside his best friend. They would talk about the students and how well they were coming along; Obito often confessed his struggles in ways to explain a particular jutsu. It wasn’t long before he convinced Kakashi to step in every now and then to help out with lessons.

Luckily for Team Obito, Kakashi was well able to put away his Hound persona and step back into the role of a common Jonin. Over the years, he’d learned well to differentiate his ANBU side and his normal side. He compartmentalized, which was helpful when he wasn’t trying to scare small children.

Team Seven was awed by him, of course, a real live ANBU ⎼ save for Sasuke, who wasn’t impressed, because his amazing big brother was also ANBU. Kakashi decided not to ruin the child’s fun by telling him that he was the one to boss Itachi around.

After a mission, Kakashi had his pick of who he wanted to get dinner with. Not often did he find himself with much alone time. It was a little more common once his friends picked up their own Genin teams, but that didn’t make the occurrence common on his day-to-day. He relished the times he could escape from Obito, Rin, Gai, Tenzo, and the rest, but he only cherished it because he was able to spend so much time with them.

Fifteen years in ANBU had Kakashi joking that he was starting to get old, one night when he was out for dango. His friends either scoffed or agreed, although Gai vehemently steamrolled on a speech of youth and passion and blooming flowers. Even if he was getting old, though, Kakashi wasn’t dissatisfied with where he was in life. He was one of the most successful shinobi in the Hidden Leaf, and possibly the globe, and he had friends to stand by him through thick and thin. Inside and outside ANBU he was able to give a hand to raising the next generation, teaching them what he had learned through his years.

When he was a child, he might have thought that dying for the Hidden Leaf was the noblest thing to do.

Now, looking back, Kakashi was more than happy to live.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> next chapter is going to be the last one!!


	4. Chapter 4

### Peace

As Kakashi hit his thirties, everyone else around him was growing up, too. Obito’s little Genin team had become Chunin and then Jonin. Sakura was learning under Rin, now the most renown medic nin in all the lands, not even second to the Sanin Tsunade herself. Naruto and Sasuke still butted heads like no other, but they were also a devastating team, a powerful duo that rivaled even Kakashi and Obito. When Sakura joined them for missions, it was like watching a younger version of Team Minato. Everyone was beaming with pride, but no one more than the Yondaime himself.

Obito eventually manned up and asked Rin out on a date, although only after being pressured by his team and begging his friends for advice. Kakashi and Gai were not so helpful, but Asuma and Kurenai had plenty of useful advice which helped. It wasn’t too long later that the wedding bells were ringing. Kakashi couldn’t remember seeing either of his teammates so happy, and he was given a lovely view of it all, standing as best man.

Later still, Minato stepped down from Hokage, and Uchiha Obito became Godaime, as he had always promised that he would. When Naruto promised that he would be the Rokudaime, Kakashi had a lovely memory of Obito doing the same at Minato’s inauguration. While the memory reminded him that time was speeding onward as it always did, Kakashi was not upset. His life felt more or less complete. He was happy, and he had been for a long, long while. 

Around the same time Minato stepped down, Kakashi finally retired from ANBU, after two whole decades of service. Tenzo followed in his footsteps a few years later, finally allowing himself to enjoy civilian life ⎼ as much as Kakashi would allow him to at least. 

Gai was much less eager to give up the torch, but even the famed Green Beast eventually was forced to admit that he was falling out of the Springtime of Youth. 

In what seemed like the blink of an eye, Kakashi and his peers were all living quiet, civilian lives. And they were happy. Somehow, each one of them had survived where others had fallen. Looking back at some of the scrapes they had gotten themselves into, it truly was nothing short of a miracle.

Of course, leading a quiet life didn’t mean they weren’t busy. Kurenai and Asuma had raised children together and were now soon expecting grandchildren, which Gai promised fervently to spoil. Even Rin and Obito had a child of their own, a precious little girl who was already a Chunin and well on her way to becoming a Jonin. Kakashi still remembered the day Obito had approached him, asking him to be the godfather. He’d immediately said yes and hadn’t regretted it a moment since.

As for Kakashi, he had retired to the Hatake compound with Tenzo. They’d fixed the place up together, and while it was much larger than either of them could have ever needed, Kakashi felt a strange sort of peace returning to his childhood home. He liked living with Tenzo. They meshed well, after two decades on Team Ro together. Like a well-oiled machine, they did the chores around the house without so much as needing to speak.

Frequently, any number of them were asked to come to the Academy to pass on their wisdom to the up and coming Genin. Kakashi’s message was always the same: Those who break the rule are scum, but those who abandon their friends are worse than scum. The new teachers always panicked when he said that, but Iruka was somehow always nearby, chuckling and insisting that Kakashi wasn’t wrong.

It was a simple life, but a good one.

Those moments of deja vu still came and went, but only every handful of years. Whenever Kakashi reached a milestone it seemed that one came around. Even after so long, though, he could never quite place why. They all seemed so random. 

When Obito’s face was being carved into the mountain, he had thought of Tsunade for some reason. And occasionally, when he saw Gai milling about the village, he expected to see him in a wheelchair.

But they were too far and few between to pay attention to them. They were easily forgotten.

On a day like any other, Kakashi returned home as the sun was setting. He slid open the door to the smell of Tenzo’s wonderful cooking. After a day of helping Rokudaime Naruto, he always liked to relax with his long time friend.

Tenzo shooed him along to the shower, though, insisting that dinner still needed a few minutes to cook. Kakashi knew better to argue after all these years, and so he went.

He took a long look at himself in the bathroom mirror. These days, he looked more and more like his father. Sometimes, Kakashi couldn’t help but think what his life might have been like had his father survived.

Later, he and Tenzo quietly ate dinner together, discussing meaningless topics and new politics. They even cracked open a new bottle of sake and stayed up much later than they usually did, reminiscing. For all the nostalgia in the world, Kakashi still didn’t have many regrets. While he missed his younger days, he was satisfied with his life and his accomplishments. There wasn’t anything he would trade for those precious memories with his friends by his side.

Eventually, they both retired to bed. Kakashi’s ninken, all eight of them, joined him. Even they were getting on in age, lazier and chubbier than ever. Tomorrow, he’d have to tell Tenzo to stop giving them scraps and leftovers.

He curled up in bed with his dogs littered around him. Kakashi fell asleep easily, happily. All was good.

When he opened his eyes again, he found himself staring into the depths of a river. Agony pulsed down his body, emanating from his left eye, but it almost didn’t compare to the exhaustion he felt.

Painfully, he looked up with one eye, seeing the feet of someone in front of him. Two pairs of feet, actually. His ears were ringing, but through that, he could hear laughter. Vicious laughter, the kind of a lunatic who’d just succeeded in his plans.

Uchiha Itachi was looking down at him, almost sadly. Hoshigaki Kisame was the one howling with laughter and standing beside the fugitive.

“I’m sorry, Kakashi,” Itachi said. “But it had to be done.”

_ What…? _

Fatigue took him over. He felt the splash of water against him before the world slipped into darkness again.

The next time he opened his eyes, Kakashi wasn’t in his bed. His ninken weren’t around him. His body ached all over, but it was from chakra exhaustion rather than the aches and pains of old age. 

Belatedly, he remembered to close his left eye. Gai, Asuma,, and Kurenai swam in his vision, looking terribly worried. Even through the blurriness, they all looked young.

“Kakashi.” Gai was the first to notice, hurrying to his side. “Kakashi, my Rival, how are you feeling?”

Kurenai tugged him back, mumbling something about giving him some space. Kakashi didn’t really hear any of it. His mind felt like it was trudging through sludge attempting to differentiate what was real and what wasn’t.

“Where are they?” Kakashi rasped.

“Itachi and the other one are gone,” Asuma started, but Kakashi cut him off.

“My team.”

Kurenai looked worried. “Naruto’s with Jiraiya, and Sasuke—”

“No,” Kakashi insisted. “My  _ team _ . Obito, Rin… Sensei…?”

The looks on their faces were enough to tell him. Kakashi shaily sighed and closed his eye, willing for it all to vanish. He so desperately wanted to fall back asleep and wake again as an old man, to the smell of Tenzo cooking breakfast.

But when Asuma quietly told him that his team had all passed long ago, there was no other memory poking at his brain offering him any other option. The only deja vu he had now was of wishful memories of a time that didn’t exist. It’d all been a trick.

Kakashi didn’t even have the energy to hate Itachi for it.

Somehow, he found himself thankful.


End file.
